Tape Echoes

Resoundingly Dirty

• A vintage tape echo that sounds as dirty as you’ve always wanted it to.
• The skillfully modelled sound and behaviour of vintage tape delay.
• Featuring Drive & Dirt: go clean or extreme with lots of wow, flutter, drop-outs, and more.
• Three versions included: native plug-in, Tape Echoes for Amp Room, and Tape Echoes for Modular.

The warm ambience that tape delay lends to a track can make it transcendent. From Elvis to King Tubby to Radiohead, the ripple effects of tape echo can be seen on important records that span decades. Analogue tape delays are costly to own and maintain and, while plug-in versions have filled the void, they come with unwelcome cleanliness. Many tape delay plug-ins can give you a realistic tape effect, but only Tape Echoes gives you the tape delay you hear in your head—minus the headaches.

Tape Echoes is overflowing with all the pulsating colour and character you need to take your tape effect from authentically gritty to lavishly analogue. With the Drive & Dirt features, you can effortlessly drench your track in as much wobbly, glitchy, distorted delay as you can fathom. And the Just Dirt setting gives you classic, old-school grit when the reverb is set to zero. It's a plug-in plush with vintage lo-fi vibes and it’s an absolute dream to use. Tape Echoes: you can say that again.

Designed by Experts, Built on Legacy 

Softube's history of emulating professional gear is long. After nearly two decades collaborating with such premium audio brands as Weiss Engineering, Tube-Tech, Solid State Logic, Chandler Limited®, and Trident, Softube’s record of perfectly recreating hardware classics in software form speaks for itself.

Tape Echoes hearkens back to this legacy and the spirit of Softube giant Tape. The result is an intensely rich, lo-fi mojo machine primed to make a splash. Tape Echoes is tape delay with the excessively dirty sounds you’ve been waiting for, and quality that exceeds your expectations. Nothing less.

Dripping with Distortion

Tape Echoes’ exclusive Drive & Dirt features let you quickly and easily go from gentle realism to extravagant saturation. Drive offers preamp and tape distortion, while Dirt’s parameters affect tape speed, wobble, flutter, dropouts, and frequency response. Set it to Just Dirt and turn the reverb off to get the old-school wobble and grit of tape without repetitions—perfect for transforming a hi-def loop into a lo-fi vibe.

Artistic Undercurrents

In a sea of retro replicas, there’s only one tape delay that’s awash with vivid colour and intense character. Drive, Dirt, and Tape Glitch beckon you to open the floodgates of reality-bending experimentation and take a dip in unadulterated creativity. But be forewarned: after Tape Echoes, other tape delays just won’t feel as fun to use.

Tap into Tape

The Number of Taps knob captures the resounding depths of classic tape delay hardware. Mimicking the sound, behaviour, and timing of analogue tape delay heads, the Number of Taps knob glides effortlessly between one, two, or three taps. The feedback dials in and emphasizes the taps for a natural, analogue effect.

Sea of Versatility

Tape Echoes features hyper-realistic analogue delay and spring reverb that perform just like authentic hardware. Use the delay time fader to set the timing of the first tap and the other two go with the flow. Place the reverb in parallel or before the delay line to slide seamlessly from authentic, clean analogue to soaked with distortion. Alternatively, turn down Delay Time and Reverb for a straight-up tape effect with just as much grit and dirt as you want.

Reflections: Tape Echoes modules for Tape Echoes for Amp Room

Asked and answered. Tape Echoes is available for use in Softube Amp Room, the pro audio guitar and bass platform. Combine it with other studio effects, classic amps, cabs, and pedals to create studio-quality, record-ready tones.

Use Tape Echoes in Softube Modular, Softube's infinitely expandable, modular synthesizer platform. Virtually patch it to any of the modules from Doepfer, Buchla, Intellijel, and more and sail away to distant sonic shores.

Deep dive: Drive & Dirt

A bottomless well of colour, character, and creativity, the Drive & Dirt features of Tape Echoes make it wholly distinct from the available pool of tape delays. Drive is the distortion that mirrors preamp and tape saturation, from realistic sounds to sopping-wet reverberations. Dirt is the character of the effect. It affects tonality, flutter, dropouts, crosstalk, pitch, and the randomness of those parameters—from mild to exaggerated.

Used as a distinct effect when delay and reverb are off, Drive & Dirt produce a vibrant lo-fi vibe. In combination with the Tape Glitch features, Drive & Dirt offer space for experimentation and can perform creative feats that analogue tape echoes—and software reproductions—just can’t replicate. If you’re thirsty for a tape delay that sounds as dirty as you expect it to, you’ll drink up Tape Echoes and its signature features, Drive & Dirt.

Smooth Sailing: Convenient Modern Features

Tape Echoes has everything you need to create the tape echo tones of your wildest dreams, plus the contemporary features that make it easy to use in the DAW-based studio. Use Tape Echoes in free mode or synchronize to the DAW with Tempo Sync and mapped out rhythm times. Tap Tempo makes it easier to dial in certain tap times and Tape Echoes also includes stereo- and dual-mono modes, as well as a wet/dry control. All of Tape Echoes' parameters are programmable in the DAW, ensuring that your digital workflow runs smoothly. It bears repeating, Tape Echoes is a bona fide vintage mojo machine for the modern studio.

Features

• A tape echo plug-in with the tape delay sounds you hear in your mind.
• Softube-quality modelling of classic vintage tape delay hardware.
• Drive & Dirt features let you go clean or extremely distorted—and everything in between.
• A Just Dirt setting for gritty, old-school tape sounds.
• Get old-school dub sounds with lots of distortion, tape wobble, and crushing feedback.
• Easily dial in great-sounding effects with amazing quality.
• Three versions included: Tape Echoes as a native plug-in, Tape.
• Echoes for Amp Room, and Tape Echoes for Modular

System Requirements

• macOS Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13
• Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 11
• Softube account
• iLok account
• Computer with AU, VST, VST3, and/or AAX-compatible DAW host software
• Internet access (for downloading installers and managing licenses)

Supported CPU Families 

• Apple macOS computers with Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or Apple silicon (M1 or newer) CPU. Apple silicon is supported natively. 
• Windows computers with quad-core Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or AMD quad-core processors with SSE 4.2 support.
• Other Intel processors (Celeron, Pentium, and Xeon) are compatible if they support SSE 4.2 instructions. 

Supported Host Software (DAW)  

Any 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, or AAX (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher) compatible host application should work. However, due to plug-in host differences between DAWs—and our rigorous standards—Softube only officially test their plug-ins and instruments in the most recent versions of Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, and Reaper. Softube plug-ins are not tested regularly in non-listed systems. They will likely work if the system requirements are met. However, the manufacturer cannot guarantee a solution for issues in unsupported systems. 
  
Softube strongly recommend using VST3, as some of their plug-ins have features that are not present in the older VST format. Supported sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192 kHz, in both mono and stereo. The most recent maintenance release of your DAW application is recommended. AAX DSP is not currently in active development. TDM/VENUE/RTAS are no longer supported. See Legacy Installers.

Important Note: Make sure that you always use the latest iLok License Manager. It is not included in the Softube installer but can be downloaded from www.ilok.com​